Wear-resistant, superhard compacts are utilized in a variety of mechanical applications. For example, polycrystalline diamond compacts (“PDCs”) are used in drilling tools (e.g., cutting elements, gage trimmers, etc.), machining equipment, bearing apparatuses, wire-drawing machinery, and in other mechanical apparatuses.
PDCs and other superhard compacts have found particular utility as superhard bearing elements in thrust-bearings within pumps, turbines, subterranean drilling systems, motors, compressors, generators, gearboxes, electric submersible pumps, and other systems and apparatuses. For example, a PDC bearing element typically includes a superhard diamond layer that is commonly referred to as a diamond table. The diamond table is formed and bonded to a substrate using a high-pressure/high-temperature (“HPHT”) process.
A thrust-bearing apparatus includes a number of superhard bearing elements affixed to a support ring. The superhard bearing elements (e.g., a PDC bearing element) bear against other superhard bearing elements of an adjacent bearing assembly during use. Superhard bearing elements are typically brazed directly into a preformed recess formed in a support ring of a fixed-position thrust-bearing.
Despite the availability of a number of different bearing apparatuses including such PDCs and/or other superhard materials, manufacturers and users of bearing apparatuses continue to seek bearing apparatuses that exhibit improved performance characteristics, lower cost, or both.